It’s also something to share on social media, giving you authority and more followers.

But sometimes it seems a lot of work, even for these rewards.

You spend ages working on a post, doing the research, writing the copy, editing and fact-checking.

Then you put it on your site and promote it for a couple of weeks in your email newsletters and on social media.

And after that?

It sits there on your site, slowly moving down your contents page, becoming less and less relevant, until it’s just another archived piece of content.

Your post becomes an artefact.

Pretty, but useless.

The only people who will ever read it are a few super-dedicated readers who make the effort to scroll through your back-pages.

In the meantime, you have to keep finding more new topics to blog about every week.

Now, if you LOVE writing and have plenty to say, this is not a problem.

But for everyone else… aaaaaargh!

Unless, that is, you act a bit smarter.

You see, it’s a mistake to consider your blog posts as static entities.

They are more like works-in-progress.

They can be gifts that keep on giving.

There’s a way to re-use and re-purpose your old posts to keep them visible on Google so that they continue to bring in traffic.

This absolutely works.

And it makes sense. Google is looking for online content that’s relevant, topical, up-to-date and useful.

So what better way to show Google that you’re an active site than by updating old blog posts with new information?

Here’s what to do…

1. Pick a high performing post

Go back over your online content and find a post that performed well for you in the past.

Good indicators are:

It pulled in a good level of traffic – Use Google Analytics to see how many page views the post got.

It was widely shared – Look at the number of Facebook likes, tweets, re-blogs and other social media stats from the post.

It received comments below the post or you recall getting emails and other feedback after it was posted.

2. Update the post

Now find a way to add something value added to the post.

Your options here include:

– News updates – Add a new development or piece of current news that’s related to the subject matter.

– Extra tips – Add more bullet points, tips, facts and instructions to the piece to give it more details and substance.

– Correct the post – Either find a mistake, or use events that have happened since to correct or improve the accuracy of the post.

– Add new research – Find some new statistics, quotations or other kinds of proof not mentioned in the original.

– Add a video or audio file – Find another multimedia element to add: for instance, you could add to the post by recording an audio interview and embedding it, or making a YouTube or Vimeo demonstration.

– Commission a graphic – You could use outsourcing sites like www.fiverr.com or www.upwork.com to commission an image that will add impact to your post. For instance, an infographic, chart, table, cartoon or short animation.

– Add feedback – You could add comments and feedback that you’ve received related to the subject matter. “Since I first wrote this post, I’ve received some wonderful stories…”

– Link to subsequent posts – Add in links (with text) that will make the old post more useful and relevant by taking the visitor to new content you’ve created, or even content on other sites. If you do the latter, make sure you contact that website and inform them – maybe they’ll share it too and increase the traffic that post gets.

3. Re-publish and share

Once you’ve edited the post, make sure you flag up that this is an updated version on the post itself.

Examples include:

“NEW information – since this post came out something has come to my attention.”

“Urgent update – Last year I told you about this topic, now I’ve found even more ways to…”

You can also add ‘2nd Edition’, or ‘NEW Version’ or ‘September 2017 Update’ or something along those lines to the headline of the piece.

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